Monday 28 February 2011

Ecotourism Feasibility Study - Que Phuoc, Quang Nam

Thu Bon River from Dui Chieng Village
Que Phuoc is one of the few relatively stable homes of the critically endangered Grey-Shanked Douc Langur.  Que Phuoc is located in central Vietnam, only about two hours from the growing tourism Hub of Hoi An, Vietnam's third most visited location, after Saigon and Hanoi.  There is a huge potential market for developing a sustainable, community based ecotourism initiative based around these beautiful primates, but of course, this must be managed extremely well.

Explaining village tourism assets
My role in this was to conduct a detailed feasibility study into developing an appropriate type of tourism initiative, with a high involvement from the local community, to meet the conservation objectives of the Douc population.

 My work has been centered around three main areas: market analysis, site based tourism resource analysis, and community workshops and consultations.

The team wades to the Douc habitat
The feasibility study has identified possible interventions for three different project options, one based upon best practice Douc viewing tourism, one around village based cultural tourism, and one around  private sector based concession.  In each case a system financial benefits for conservation (through a local Village Patrol team) and communities (through a Village Development Fund) has been suggested.  The study also develops an outline donor plan and budget.

Click here for pictures.

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